I mostly agree with Jonathan. I think Kristol’s a perfectly good addition to the Times’ op-ed page and I’m happy for him. I’m also enjoying the rage the hire is causing. I suspect, however, that there will be more daylight between Brooks and Kristol than people might think. Brooks seems to have drifted further from National Greatness than Bill. But I could be wrong.

Either way, what is really remarkable — and a large source of liberal rage — is that for all the leftwing talk about the discrediting of “neoconservatism” and the hawks of TheWeekly Standard stripe, they’re still so influential that when the Times looks for a second conservative columnist it looks to the editor of The Weekly Standard and Brooks’ old boss and colleague. This no doubt says a lot about the narrow prism through which TheNew York Times views conservatism. But it also says a lot for the enduring success of Kristol and his magazine and the inability of liberals to pelt conservatives from the public stage the way they used to — and the way they desperately still want to.